Sunday, December 29, 2013

It has been an enjoyable Christmas break for our family,
thus far. A good retreat. We haven’t had a lot on the schedule, which is
a nice thing.We’ve been able to spend
time doing relaxing things we enjoy.Among the activities some or all of us have been doing:reading, enjoying nature, watching good
movies, visiting an art museum, playing without having the realities of life
(chores, schoolwork) intruding. (Although, I no sooner finish that sentence,
than I hear sounds of discontent rising from the playroom. Sibling squabbles still intrude!)

Once upon a time in a land not too far away, my older
daughters were involved in the Little Flowers Girls’ Club.It’s been a few years, my memory of it is sketchy, and
so my description of this event might not be accurate. However . . . one of the projects they worked on was the concept
of “eutrapelia.”Wikipedia defines this as a
Greek word meaning wittiness.It goes on to say that this was one of
Aristotle’s virtues, the “golden mean” between boorishness and buffoonery.The Little Flowers Girls’ Club calls it, on
their website,
“modest relaxation.”In their Little
Flowers group, my daughters discussed the idea of there being an appointed time
for everything (Ecclesiastes 3), including a time for rest and relaxation.Retreat.I would describe it as another opportunity to
make sure both our Mary side and our Martha side are well integrated with each
other.Let us be neither boorish nor
buffoons.

Thank you, God, for
this brief respite from the busyness of life.Thank you for all these things we’ve been able to enjoy, whether created
by your hands in the form of the natural world, or created by human hands in
the form of the written word, sculpture, canvas, or film.

Friday, December 13, 2013

17.Always be more disposed toward giving to others than giving to yourself,
and thus you will not be envious of or selfish toward your neighbor.This is to be understood from the viewpoint
of perfection, for God is angered with those who do not give precedence to his
good pleasure over that of humans.

•I feel a lot of people (Christians and others)
get this one wrong.I see a huge
emphasis on being generous with material goods or avoiding jealousy about
material things.I see throughout St.
John’s writings that the giving we are meant to do is not to be considered
solely in material terms.Don’t get me
wrong, there is a problem in the industrialized world regarding attachment to
material goods.But the problem isn’t
material in nature.

•Why do I say this? I’ve seen envy and
selfishness towards neighbor in people of little material wealth and great
material wealth alike.Similarly, I’ve
been impressed and inspired by the generosity of both those of little material
wealth and great material wealth.The
difference between the selfish and the generous?Nothing to do with their paycheck or their
contribution to the gross domestic product.

•Some people have turned their backs on the
materialism of this world, but haven’t become any less self-centered for it.

•All giving must originate from a spiritual
source.It’s about giving of self more
than it is about giving of things.

•I find this to be why fasting is an important
discipline.Friday meat fasts, Lenten
fasts, periodic fasting from whatever takes one’s focus from serving God, so to
serve others. These practices of discipline help us to “be more disposed toward
giving to others.”

•What comes to mind? 1 Corinthians 13, of
course!St. John of the Cross has
actually written a number of things about 1 Corinthians 13.Rather than finish this reflection with one
of those quotes, I’ll go straight to the source that inspired John:

If I speak in human
and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing
cymbal.And if I have the gift of
prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so
as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away
everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not
have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient,
love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it
is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it
does not brood over injury,it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices
with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.

Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will
cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and
we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a
child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see
indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know
partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

So faith, hope,
love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

16. Remember always that you came here for
no other reason than to be a saint; thus let nothing reign in your soul that
does not lead you to sanctity.

·How much time do I waste in worrying about
things beyond my control?

·Becoming a saint requires a good deal of dying
to self.Often, I find myself being
stubborn about things I should let go.Even if (or when) I am in the right!
These are the things that reign in my soul and hold me back from becoming the
person God wants me to be.

“Ridding oneself of
what is repugnant to God’s will should be understood not only of one’s acts but
of one’s habits as well.Not only must
actual voluntary imperfections cease, but habitual imperfections must be
annihilated, too.”

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

12.Pay no attention to the affairs of others, whether they be good or bad,
for besides the danger of sin, this is a cause of distractions and lack of
spirit.

·Gossip! This is an area where I can boast in the
grace of God.I was once a bit of a
gossip, taking too much interest in “the affairs of others, whether they be
good or bad.”

·Does excessive checking of Twitter, Facebook,
blogs constitute an over interest in the affairs of others?Alas, for me, those things can be a distraction and I have to be
disciplined about my use of the internet. Especially political things.I can get so wrapped up in all that.

·St. John of the Cross would probably counsel me
to pray, rather than waste time on
other things.Pray for the state of the
world, rather than checking in on breaking news to see what’s happening to it!

“Let those, then,
who are singularly active . . . observe here that they would profit the Church
and please God much more . . . were they to spend at least half the time with
God in prayer.”